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An enchantress disguised as an old beggar woman arrives at a castle and offers a cruel and selfish prince a rose in return for shelter. When he refuses, she reveals her true identity. To punish the prince for his unkindness, the enchantress transforms him into a beast and his servants into sentient household objects. She casts a spell on the rose and informs the prince that the spell can only be broken if he learns to love another and earn that person's love in return before the last petal falls, or else he will remain a beast forever. Many years later, in a nearby village, a book-loving, an independent-minded young woman named Belle dreams of adventure and wants more than what the little town can offer. As such, she is seen as an outsider by the villagers. Her appearance attracts the attention of Gaston, an ill-mannered and narcissistic hunter whose advances she continuously brushes off, as well as his bumbling sidekick Lefou. On his way to a fair to showcase his latest invention, an automatic wood-chopper, Belle's father and inventor Maurice gets lost in the forest and seeks refuge in the Beast's castle, but the Beast imprisons him for trespassing. When Maurice's horse Phillipe returns without him, Belle ventures out searching for him and finds him locked in the castle dungeon. The Beast agrees to let her take Maurice's place. Belle befriends the castle's royal servants: Lumière the candelabra, Cogsworth the clock, Mrs. Potts the teapot, and her son Chip, the teacup. They invite her to a spectacular dinner. When she wanders into the forbidden west wing and finds the rose, the enraged Beast scares her into fleeing the castle. In the woods, she is ambushed by a pack of hungry wolves, but the Beast rescues her and is injured in the process. As Belle nurses his wounds, a rapport develops between them. As time passes, they become close and even get close to falling in love. Meanwhile, Maurice returns to the village and tries to convince the townsfolk of Belle's predicament, but is dismissed as a crazy old fool. Hearing Maurice's claims about the Beast, Gaston hatches a plan to blackmail Belle into marrying him: He bribes Monsieur D'Arque, the warden of the town's insane asylum, to have Maurice locked up as a lunatic. Before they can act, however, Maurice leaves for the castle to attempt a rescue alone. After sharing a romantic dance with the Beast, Belle uses a magic mirror that allows her to see anything to find her father. She discovers him sick and lost in the woods. The Beast releases her to save Maurice, giving her the mirror as a remembrance. After Belle takes her father to the village, an angry mob led by Gaston, Lefou, and Monsieur D'Arque arrive to arrest Maurice. Trying to prove Maurice isn't insane, Belle uses the mirror to reveal the Beast to the townsfolk. Realizing that Belle loves the Beast, Gaston has her thrown into the basement with her father. He rallies the villagers to follow him to the castle to slay the Beast. With the help of Chip, who had arrived at their house as a stowaway, and Maurice's wood- chopping machine, Maurice and Belle escape and then rush back to the castle. During the battle, the Beast's servants fend off the villagers and LeFou. Gaston attacks the Beast in his tower, who is too heartbroken from Belle's departure to fight back, but regains his spirit upon seeing Belle return. He defeats Gaston but spares his life before reuniting with Belle. However, Gaston stabs the Beast with a knife but loses his balance, causing him to fall to his death. The Beast dies in Belle's arms before the last petal falls. Belle tearfully professes her love to the Beast, and the spell is undone, reviving the Beast and restoring his human form along with all his servants and his castle. The Prince and Belle host a ball for the kingdom, where they dance happily. 

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Gangster Bugsy Siegel, who works for Meyer Lansky and Charlie Luciano, goes to Los Angeles and instantly falls in love with Virginia Hill, a tough-talking Hollywood starlet. The two meet for the first time when Bugsy visits actor George Raft on the set of Manpower. He buys a house in Beverly Hills, planning to stay there while his wife and two daughters remain in Scarsdale, New York. Bugsy is in California to wrestle control of betting parlors away from gangster Jack Dragna. Mickey Cohen robs Dragna's operation one day. He is confronted by Bugsy, who decides he should be in business with the guy who committed the robbery, not the guy who got robbed. Cohen is put in charge of the betting casinos; Dragna is forced to admit to a raging Bugsy that he stole $14,000 and is told he now answers to Cohen. After arguments about Virginia's trysts with drummer Gene Krupa and various bullfighters and Siegel's reluctance to get a divorce, Virginia makes a romantic move on Bugsy. On a trip to Nevada to visit a gambling joint, Bugsy comes up with the idea for a hotel and casino in the desert. He obtains $1 million in funding from lifelong friend Lansky and other New York mobsters, reminding them that gambling is legal in Nevada. Virginia wants no part of it until Bugsy puts her in charge of accounting and begins constructing the Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel Casino in Las Vegas; however, the budget soon soars to $6 million due to his extravagance. Bugsy tries everything to ensure it gets completed, even selling his share of the casino. Bugsy is visited in Los Angeles by former associate Harry Greenberg. Harry has betrayed his old associates to save himself and run out of money from a combination of his gambling habits and being extorted by prosecutors who want his testimony. Though he is Harry's trusted friend, Bugsy has no choice but to kill him. He is arrested for the murder, but the only witness is a cab driver who dropped Harry off in front of Bugsy's house. The driver is paid to leave town. Lansky is waiting for Bugsy outside the jail. He gives a satchel of money to his friend. "Charlie [Luciano] doesn't have to know about it," he tells Bugsy, but warns, "I can't protect you anymore." The Flamingo's opening night is a total failure, and $2 million of the budget is unaccounted for, at which point Bugsy discovers that Virginia stole the money. He tells her to "keep it and save it for a rainy day." He then tells Lansky never to sell his share of the casino because he will live to thank him someday. Later that night, Bugsy is shot and killed in his home. Virginia is told the news in Las Vegas and knows her own days could be numbered. The end title cards state that one week after Bugsy Siegel's death, Virginia Hill returned all of the missing money to Meyer Lansky. Virginia Hill committed suicide in Austria. By 1991, the $6 million invested in Bugsy's Las Vegas dream had generated $100 billion revenues. 

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Tom Wingo, a teacher and football coach from South Carolina, is asked by his mother, Lila, to travel to New York City to help his twin sister's psychiatrist, Susan Lowenstein, after his sister Savannah's latest suicide attempt. Tom hates New York but reluctantly accepts, largely to take the opportunity to be alone and away from a life that does not satisfy him. During his initial meetings with Lowenstein, Tom is reluctant to disclose many details of their dysfunctional family's secrets. In flashbacks, Tom relates incidents from his childhood to Lowenstein in hopes of discovering how to save Savannah's life. The Wingo parents were an abusive father and a manipulative, status-hungry mother. The father was a shrimp boat operator and, despite being successful at that profession, spent all of his money on frivolous business pursuits, leaving the family in poverty. Tom is also torn with his own problems but hides behind what he calls "the Southern way"—laughing at things instead of crying. For example, his wife Sallie is having an affair, and her lover wants to marry her. Tom and Lowenstein begin to have feelings for each other. After Tom discovers that she is married to Herbert Woodruff, a famous concert violinist, Lowenstein introduces Tom to her son Bernard, who is being groomed to become a musician as well but who secretly wants to play football. Tom starts coaching Bernard along with attending sessions with Lowenstein to help his sister. Tom discovers that Savannah has been in such a dissociated state that she even had a different identity, Renata Halpern. As Halpern, she wrote books to disguise the Savannah side of her troubled life. Tom confronts Lowenstein over not revealing this information before, and they argue, during which she throws a dictionary at him. To apologize, she asks him to dinner, and their relationship becomes closer. Tom has a fateful meeting with his mother and stepfather, bringing up painful memories. Tom reveals that, when he was 13 years old, three escaped convicts invaded his home and raped him, his mother, and his sister. His older brother, Luke, killed two of the aggressors with a shotgun, while his mother stabbed the third with a kitchen knife. They buried the bodies beneath the house and never spoke of it again. Tom bursts into tears, having now let loose a key piece of Savannah's troubled life. After discovering that Tom has been coaching Bernard, Herbert orders Bernard to stop his football pursuits, return to his music lessons, to prepare to leave for Tanglewood, a prestigious music academy. Tom is invited to a dinner at Lowenstein's home, along with poets and intellectuals. Herbert is overtly rude and reveals that Tom's sister is in therapy with his wife. Infuriated, Lowenstein voices her suspicions about her husband's affair. Tom takes Herbert's "million dollar" violin and threatens to throw it off the high-rise balcony unless Herbert apologizes. Tom throws the violin in the air, Herbert nervously apologizes, and Tom catches the violin before it falls. Tom spends a romantic weekend with Lowenstein at her country house. Savannah recovers and is released from the hospital. This recovery is due to finally learning about things she has repressed from her childhood, most notably the rapes. Her first suicide attempt at age 13 was after the rapes and murders of the three convicts. Tom then receives a call from his wife, who has finally decided she wants him back. He loves both Lowenstein and his wife, and tells Lowenstein he doesn't love his wife more, "just longer.” Tom ends his relationship with Lowenstein and reunites with his wife and family, but wishes that two lives could be given to each man and woman. He is happy in his renewed life, after finally working out the traumatic events in his past with Lowenstein's help. Tom thinks of her daily as he reaches the top of the bridge on his drive home from work. Her name comes to him as a kind of prayer, a blessing. 

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In 1881 in Big Whiskey, Wyoming, two cowboys—Quick Mike and "Davey- Boy" Bunting—attack and disfigure prostitute Delilah Fitzgerald with a knife after she laughs at Quick Mike's small penis. As punishment, local sheriff "Little Bill" Daggett orders the cowboys to bring several horses as compensation for the brothel owner, Skinny Dubois. The rest of the prostitutes are outraged by the sheriff's decision, and offer a $1,000 reward to anyone who kills the cowboys. In Hodgeman County, Kansas, a boastful young man calling himself the "Schofield Kid" visits the pig farm of William Munny, seeking to recruit him to help kill the cowboys and claim the reward. In his youth, Munny was a notorious outlaw and murderer, but he is now a repentant widower raising two children. After initially refusing to help, Munny recognizes that his farm is failing and jeopardizing his children's future, so he reconsiders. Munny recruits his friend Ned Logan, another retired outlaw, and they catch up with the Kid. Back in Wyoming, British-born gunfighter "English Bob", an old acquaintance and rival of Little Bill, is also seeking the reward. He arrives in Big Whiskey with biographer W. W. Beauchamp, who naively believes Bob's exaggerated tales of his exploits. Enforcing the town's anti-gun law, Little Bill and his deputies disarm Bob and Bill beats him savagely, hoping to discourage other would-be assassins from attempting to claim the bounty. Bill ejects Bob from town the next morning, but Beauchamp decides to stay and write about Bill, who debunks many of the romantic notions Beauchamp has about the wild west. Little Bill explains to Beauchamp that the best attribute for a gunslinger is to be cool-headed under fire, rather than to have the quickest draw. Munny, Logan, and the Kid arrive in town during a rainstorm, and head into the saloon. While Logan and the Kid meet with the prostitutes upstairs, a feverish Munny is sitting alone in the saloon when Little Bill and his deputies confront him. Not realizing Munny's identity, Bill beats him up and kicks him out of the saloon for carrying a pistol. Logan and the Kid escape through a back window, and the three regroup at a barn outside town, where they nurse Munny back to health. A few days later, the trio ambush and kill Bunting in front of his friends. After missing Bunting and hitting his horse instead, Logan re-aims but loses his nerve while attempting to finish him off, and resolves to return home. Munny feels they must finish the job. Munny and the Kid then head towards the cowboys' ranch, where the Kid ambushes Quick Mike in an outhouse and kills him. After they escape, a distraught Kid confesses he had never killed anyone before and renounces life as a gunfighter. When one of the prostitutes arrives to give them the reward, they learn that Logan had been captured and tortured to death by Bill, but not before revealing Munny's identity. The Kid gives Will his revolver and heads back to Kansas with the reward; Munny heads back to Big Whiskey to take revenge on Little Bill. That night, Munny arrives and sees Logan's corpse displayed in a coffin outside the saloon with a sign warning this is what happens to assassins in the town of Big Whiskey. Inside, Little Bill has assembled a posse to pursue Munny and the Kid. Munny walks in alone brandishing a shotgun to confront the posse and kills Dubois. Munny then holds Bill at gunpoint. Little Bill instructs the men in the bar to kill Munny after he takes the second and final shot remaining in his shotgun. Munny pulls the trigger on Bill, but experiences a misfire, allowing the deputies to draw and start shooting. Despite this, Munny draws his pistol and calmly kills several of the deputies as all of their panicked shots miss him before ordering the bystanders to leave the saloon. Critically wounded, Bill promises to see Munny in hell before Munny executes him. Munny then leaves Big Whiskey, warning the townsfolk that he will return for more vengeance if Logan is not buried properly or if any of the prostitutes are harmed. During the epilogue, a title card states that Munny and his children left the pig farm and they are rumored to have moved to San Francisco, prospering in dry goods. 

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In Edwardian Britain, Helen Schlegel becomes engaged to Paul Wilcox during a moment of passion, while she is staying at the country home of the Wilcox family, Howards End. The Schlegels are an intellectual family of Anglo-German bourgeoisie, while the Wilcoxes are conservative and wealthy, led by hard-headed businessman Henry. Helen and Paul quickly decide against the engagement, but Helen has already sent a telegram informing her sister Margaret, which causes an uproar when the sisters' Aunt Juley arrives and causes a scene. Months later, when the Wilcox family takes a flat across the street from the Schlegels in London, Margaret resumes her acquaintance with Ruth Wilcox, whom she had briefly met before. Ruth is descended from English yeoman stock, and it is through her family that the Wilcoxes have come to own Howards End, a house she loves dearly. Over the course of the next few months, the two women become very good friends, even as Mrs. Wilcox's health declines. Hearing that the lease on the Schlegels' house is due to expire, Ruth on her death bed bequeaths Howards End to Margaret. This causes great consternation to the Wilcoxes, who refuse to believe that Ruth was in her "right mind" or could possibly have intended her home to go to a relative stranger. The Wilcoxes burn the piece of paper on which Ruth's bequest is written, deciding to ignore it completely. Henry Wilcox, Ruth's widower, begins to develop an attraction to Margaret, and agrees to assist her in finding a new home. Eventually he proposes marriage, which Margaret accepts. Some time before this, the Schlegels had befriended a self improving young clerk, Leonard Bast, who lives with a woman of dubious origins named Jacky. Both sisters find Leonard remarkable, appreciating his intellectual curiosity and desire to improve his lot in life. The sisters pass along advice from Henry to the effect that Leonard must leave his post, because the insurance company he works for is supposedly heading for bankruptcy. Leonard takes the advice and quits, but has to settle for a job paying much less, which he eventually loses altogether due to downsizing of its business. Helen is later enraged to learn that Henry's advice was wrong; Leonard's first employer had been perfectly sound but won't reemploy him. Months later, Henry and Margaret host the wedding of his daughter Evie at his Shropshire estate. Margaret is shocked when Helen arrives with the Basts, whom she has found living in poverty. Considering that Henry is responsible for their plight, Helen demands that he help them. However, Jacky becomes drunk at the reception, and when she sees Henry she recognizes and exposes him as a former lover from years ago. Henry is embarrassed and ashamed to have been revealed as an adulterer in front of Margaret, but she forgives him and agrees to send the Basts away. After the wedding, Helen, upset with Margaret's decision to marry a man she loathes prepares to leave for Germany, but not before giving in to her attraction for Leonard having sex with him while out boating. Fearing that the Basts will be penniless, Helen sends instruction from Germany to her donnish brother Tibby to make over £5000 of her own money to Leonard. Leonard returns the cheque uncashed, refusing to accept the money through pride. Margaret and Henry marry, with the pair arranging to use Howards End as storage for Margaret and her siblings' belongings. After months of only hearing from Helen through postcards, Margaret grows concerned. When Aunt Juley falls ill, Helen returns to England to visit her, but when she receives word that her aunt has recovered, avoids seeing Margaret or any of her family. Fearing that Helen is mentally unstable, Margaret lures her to Howards End to collect her belongings, only to turn up herself with Henry and a doctor. However, on first glance she realizes that Helen is heavily pregnant. Helen insists on returning to Germany to raise her baby alone but asks that she be allowed to stay the night at Howards End before she leaves. When Margaret requests this from Henry, he stubbornly refuses and the couple bicker. The next day, Leonard, still living unhappily in poverty with Jacky, leaves London and travels to Howards End to see the Schlegels. When he arrives he finds the pair, as well as Henry's brutish eldest son Charles. Charles quickly realizes that Leonard is the baby's father and begins assaulting him for "dishonoring" Helen. In his rage, Charles beats Leonard with the flat of a sword, and Leonard grabs onto a bookcase for support. The bookcase collapses on him, which causes Leonard to have a heart attack and die. Margaret tells Henry that she is leaving him to help Helen raise her baby, and Henry breaks down, telling her the police inquest will charge Charles with manslaughter. A year later, Paul, Evie, and Charles's wife Dolly gather at Howards End. Henry and Margaret are still together, and living with Helen and her young son. Henry tells the others that, upon his death, Margaret will receive Howards Endbut no money, at her own request. Dolly points out the irony of Margaret's inheriting the house, revealing Mrs. Wilcox's dying wish to Margaret for the first time. Henry admits to what happened, and Margaret appears to forgive him. 

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Charlie Simms is a student at the Baird School, an exclusive New England prep school. Unlike most of his peers, Charlie was not born into a wealthy family, and attends the school on a scholarship. Charlie accepts a temporary job over Thanksgiving weekend in order to afford a plane ticket home to Oregon for Christmas. The woman who hires him asks Charlie to watch over her uncle, retired Army Officer Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade, whom Charlie discovers to be a cantankerous, blind alcoholic. Charlie and George Willis, Jr., another student at the Baird School, witness three students setting up a prank that publicly humiliates the headmaster, Mr. Trask. Incensed over the prank, Trask quickly learns of the two student witnesses and presses Charlie and George to divulge the names of the perpetrators. Once George has left the office, Trask offers Charlie a bribe: a letter of recommendation that would virtually guarantee his acceptance to Harvard. Charlie remains silent, but is conflicted about what to do. Shortly after Charlie arrives, Frank unexpectedly whisks Charlie off on a trip to New York City. Frank reserves a room at the Waldorf-Astoria. During dinner at the Oak Room, Frank glibly states the goals of the trip, which involve enjoying luxurious accommodations in New York before committing suicide. Charlie is taken aback and does not know if Frank is serious. They pay an uninvited visit to Frank's brother's home in White Plains for Thanksgiving dinner. Frank is an unpleasant surprise for the family, as he deliberately provokes everyone and the night ends in acrimony. During this time, the cause of Frank's blindness is also revealed: While drunk, he was juggling live hand grenades, showing off for a group of second lieutenants, when one of the grenades exploded. As they return to New York City, Charlie tells Frank about his complications at school. Frank advises Charlie to inform on his classmates and go to Harvard, warning him that George will probably give in to the pressure to talk, and Charlie had better cash in before George does. Later at a restaurant, Frank is aware of Donna, a young woman waiting for her date. Although blind, Frank leads Donna in a spectacular tango ("Por una Cabeza") on the dance floor. That night, he hires a female escort. Deeply despondent the next morning, Frank is initially uninterested in Charlie's proposals for something to do until he suggests they go for a drive in a 1989 Ferrari Mondial t Cabriolet. Frank smooth-talks the initially reluctant Ferrari dealership salesman into letting Charlie, who Frank says is his son, take the vehicle out for a test drive. Once on the road, Frank is unenthusiastic until Charlie allows him to drive, quickly arousing the attention of a police officer. Once again being calm and charming in a potentially difficult situation, Frank talks the officer into letting them go without giving away his blindness. After returning the Ferrari and waiting to cross the street, Frank grows impatient and walks into the middle of traffic on Park Avenue, where he narrowly avoids being struck by multiple cars. He then attempts to publicly urinate before being stopped by Charlie out of fear of Frank being arrested. When they return to the hotel, Frank sends Charlie out on a list of errands. Charlie initially leaves the room but quickly becomes suspicious. Charlie returns to find Frank in uniform and preparing to commit suicide with his service pistol. Charlie intervenes and they enter a tense fight, with both grappling for the gun; however, Frank backs down after Charlie bravely calms him. The two return to New England. At school, Charlie and George are subjected to a formal inquiry in front of the entire student body and the student/faculty disciplinary committee. As Headmaster Trask is opening the proceedings, Frank unexpectedly returns to the school, joining Charlie on the auditorium stage for support. For his defense, George has enlisted the help of his wealthy father, using his poor vision as an excuse before naming all three of the perpetrators. When pressed for more details, George passes the burden to Charlie. Although struggling with his decision, Charlie gives no information, so Trask recommends Charlie's expulsion. Frank cannot contain himself and launches into a passionate speech defending Charlie and reminding the country's future elite and its trainers of the value of integrity. After brief deliberations, the disciplinary committee decide to place the students named by George on probation, deny George of any accolades for his testimony and excuse Charlie from punishment, allowing him to have no further involvement in the proceedings. As Charlie escorts Frank to his limo, Frank flirts with a young political science professor, and is returned home by Charlie, where Frank happily greets his niece's young children. 

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Korean War veteran Lucas Doolin (Robert Mitchum) works in the family moonshine business, delivering the illegal liquor his father distills to clandestine distribution points throughout the South in his souped-up hot rod. However, Lucas has more problems than evading the U.S. Treasury agents ("revenuers"), led by determined newcomer Troy Barrett (Gene Barry). Lucas is concerned that his younger brother Robin (James Mitchum), who is also his mechanic, will be tempted into following in his footsteps and becoming a moonshine runner. A well-funded outside gangster, Carl Kogan (Jacques Aubuchon), tries to gain control of the independent local moonshine producers and their distribution points and is willing to kill anyone who stands in his way. The stakes rise when an attempt by Kogan to kill Lucas results in the death of a government agent as well as another moonshine driver (Mitchell Ryan). In a romantic subplot, Lucas becomes involved with nightclub singer Francie Wymore (Keely Smith). He is unaware one of the neighbor girls, Roxanna Ledbetter (Sandra Knight), has a crush on him and fears for his life. When a series of government raids destroy their hidden stills, Lucas's father and the other local moonshiners shut down production "for a spell" to let the government deal with Kogan in its own time, but Lucas is forced by circumstances and his own code of honor to make a final run. 

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An electively mute Scotswoman named Ada McGrath is sold by her father into marriage to a New Zealand frontiersman named Alisdair Stewart, bringing her young daughter Flora with her. Ada has not spoken a word since she was six and no one, including herself, knows why. She expresses herself through her piano playing and through sign language, for which her daughter, in parent-child role reversal, has served as her interpreter. Flora, it is later learned, is the product of a relationship with a teacher whom Ada believed she had seduced through mental telepathy, but who "became frightened and stopped listening", and thus left her. Ada, Flora, and their belongings, including a hand crafted piano, are deposited on a New Zealand beach by a ship's crew. The following day, Alisdair arrives with a Māori crew and his friend, Baines, a fellow forester and retired sailor who has adopted many of the Māori customs, including tattooing his face. Alisdair tells Ada that there is no room in his small house for the piano and abandons the piano on the beach. Ada, in turn, is cold to him and is determined to be reunited with her piano. Unable to communicate with Alisdair, Ada and Flora visit Baines with a note asking to be taken to the piano. He explains that he cannot read. Baines soon suggests that Alisdair trade the instrument to him for some land. Alisdair consents, and agrees to his further request to receive lessons from Ada, oblivious to his attraction to her. Ada is enraged when she learns that Alisdair has traded away her precious piano without consulting her. During one visit, Baines proposes that Ada can earn her piano back at a rate of one piano key per "lesson", provided that he can observe her and do "things he likes" while she plays. She agrees, but negotiates for a number of lessons equal to the number of black keys only. While Ada and her husband Alisdair have had no sexual, or even mildly affectionate interaction, the lessons with Baines become a slow seduction for her affection. Baines requests gradually increased intimacy in exchange for greater numbers of keys. Ada reluctantly accepts but does not give herself to him the way he desires. Realizing that she only does what she has to in order to regain the piano, and that she has no romantic feelings for him, Baines gives up and simply returns the piano to Ada, saying that their arrangement "is making you a whore, and me wretched", and that what he really wants is for her to actually care for him. Despite Ada's having her piano back, she ultimately finds herself missing Baines watching her as she plays. She returns to him one afternoon, when they submit to their desire for one another. Alisdair, having become suspicious of their relationship, hears them having sex as he walks by Baines's house and then watches them through a crack in the wall. Outraged, he follows her the next day and confronts her in the forest, where he attempts to force himself on her, despite her intense resistance. He eventually exacts a promise from Ada that she will not see Baines. Soon afterwards, Ada sends her daughter with a package for Baines, containing a single piano key with an inscribed love declaration reading "Dear George you have my heart Ada McGrath". Flora does not want to deliver the package and brings the piano key instead to Alisdair. After reading the love note burnt onto the piano key, Alisdair furiously returns home with an axe and cuts off Ada's index finger to deprive her of the ability to play the piano. He then sends Flora who witnessed this to Baines with the severed finger wrapped in cloth, with the message that if Baines ever attempts to see Ada again, he will chop off more fingers. Later that night, while touching Ada in her sleep, Alisdair hears what he believes to be Ada's voice inside his head, asking him to let Baines take her away. Deeply shaken, he goes to Baines's house and asks if she has ever spoken words to him. Baines assures him she has not. Ultimately, it is assumed that he decides to send Ada and Flora away with Baines and dissolve their marriage once she has recovered from her injuries. They depart from the same beach on which she first landed in New Zealand. While being rowed to the ship with her baggage and Ada's piano tied onto a Māori longboat, Ada asks Baines to throw the piano overboard. As it sinks, she deliberately tangles her foot in the rope trailing after it. She is pulled overboard but, deep under water, changes her mind and kicks free and is pulled to safety. In an epilogue, Ada describes her new life with Baines and Flora in Nelson, New Zealand, where she has started to give piano lessons in their new home, and her severed finger has been replaced with a silver finger made by Baines. Ada has also started to take speech lessons in order to learn how to speak again. 

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The novel tells, in first-person narration, the story of Stevens, an English butler who has dedicated his life to the loyal service of Lord Darlington (who is recently deceased, and whom Stevens describes in increasing detail in flashbacks). The novel begins in 1956, with Stevens receiving a letter from a former colleague, the housekeeper Miss Kenton, describing her married life, which Stevens believes hints at an unhappy marriage. Furthermore, Darlington Hall is short-staffed and could greatly use a skilled housekeeper like Miss Kenton. Stevens starts to consider paying Miss Kenton a visit. His new employer, a wealthy American named Mr. Farraday, encourages Stevens to borrow his car to take a well-earned vacation—a "motoring trip." Stevens accepts, and sets out for Cornwall, where Miss Kenton (now Mrs. Benn) lives. During his journey, Stevens reflects on his unshakable loyalty to Lord Darlington, who had hosted lavish meetings between German sympathizers and English aristocrats in an effort to influence international affairs in the years leading up to World War II; on the meaning of the term "dignity" and what constitutes a great butler; and on his relationship with his late father, another "no-nonsense" man who dedicated his life to service. Ultimately, Stevens is forced to ponder Lord Darlington's character and reputation, as well as the true nature of his relationship with Miss Kenton. As the book progresses, evidence mounts of Miss Kenton's and Stevens' past mutual attraction and affection. While they worked together during the years leading up to the Second World War, Stevens and Miss Kenton failed to admit their true feelings toward one other. Their conversations as recollected by Stevens show a professional friendship which at times came close to blossoming into romance, but this was evidently a line that neither dared cross. Stevens in particular never yielded, even when Miss Kenton tried to draw closer to him. When they finally meet again, Mrs. Benn, having been married now for more than twenty years, admits to wondering if she made a mistake in marrying, but says she has come to love her husband and is looking forward to the birth of their first grandchild. Stevens later muses over lost opportunities, both with Miss Kenton and regarding his decades of selfless service to Lord Darlington, who may not have been worthy of his unquestioning fealty. At the end of the novel, Stevens instead focuses on the titular "remains of the day," referring to his future service with Mr. Farraday and what is left of his own life. 

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